I think the most apt summary I could give of Katamari Damacy is that it's gaming's weirdest power fantasy. To say a little bit more about it than that though, it's one of the most unique games I've ever played, I really can't compare it to anything else. We're talking Pokémon Ranger levels of, "This should not be a fun gameplay concept, but gosh darn they made it work." It's hard to describe why exactly Katamari is a fun game; all I can really say is that once your Katamari reaches 20m, you become an unstoppable force of mass destruction, placing you far past any point of reflection where you realize how messed up what you're actually doing is. The final level and credits sequence are particularly satisfying in this regard.

I do have some gripes with the game. Firstly, I wish that it had normal movement/camera controls, rather than this weird dual-stick steering setup. The game's physics engine is already loose enough that it doesn't need an unconventional control scheme to artificially bump up the difficulty. Similarly, I found the timer made the game more stressful than it needed to be. Some of the later levels get decently lengthy, and it was frustrating to play a level upwards of 15 minutes, only to then time out and have to start over from scratch. Some games thrive off of their difficulty, but in a game as simple and cheery as this one, I was hoping for something more relaxing.

The game's excellent presentation largely makes up for this though, with an eclectic and memorable vocal-based soundtrack (game soundtracks that go through the effort of hiring singers and recording real, live vocals always get bonus points from me) and simplistic but vibrant artstyle.

It's a shame that the sequels aren't as widely available on modern platforms as this game is. As someone whose first experience with the series was this remake, I'd love to try some of the later entries if only to see more of this exclusively Katamari gameplay style.

Reviewed on Sep 17, 2022


Comments